Vehicular sensor modules include sensors for detecting deformations of vehicle bodies and outputting information indicative of the detected deformations, and control units for determining, on the basis of the output information, whether the vehicle bodies collides with objects. The sensors of the sensor modules include optical fibers for detecting deformations of the vehicle bodies, as disclosed in JP-A-2005-263038.
FIG. 9 hereof shows the sensor module disclosed in JP-A-2005-263038. The sensor module, designated generally at 200, includes an optical fiber 203 disposed on a front side of a bumper beam 202, a light-receiving/emitting unit 204 connected to an end of the optical fiber 203, and a signal processing unit 207 for processing a signal output from the light-receiving/emitting unit 204.
An amount of light passing through the optical fiber 203 varies depending upon an amount of deformation of the optical fiber 203 subjected to an external force. This relationship between the amount of light passing through the optical fiber 203 and the amount of deformation of the optical fiber 203 is used in a vehicular sensor of the sensor module 200.
The bumper beam 202 extends across front ends of front side frames 201, 201. The optical fiber 203 is covered by a bumper face 206 with a bumper 205 interposed therebetween. The light-receiving/emitting unit 204 includes a light-emitting section for emitting light into the optical fiber 203, and a light-receiving section for receiving light returning from the optical fiber 203.
The light-receiving/emitting unit 204 is spaced from the signal processing unit 207 while the unit 204 is directly connected to the optical fiber 203. The light-receiving/emitting unit 204 and the signal processing unit 207 should be separately installed to a vehicle body. This results in the increased number of steps for installing the sensor module 200 to the vehicle body. Further, for transmitting a signal from the unit 204 to the unit 207, a transmission line 208 needs to be interposed between the light-receiving/emitting unit 204 and the signal processing unit 207. Since the transmission line 208 is arranged within the vehicle body, the sensor module 200 has a complex arrangement.
There is a need for a vehicular sensor module of simple arrangement which can be easily assembled to the vehicle body structure.